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Tips for Authors

Increase Impact by Promoting Your Article on Social Media

Social media platforms are ongoing, active online networking sites that perform best when you regularly create updates, post content, and interact with others. They can include your personal and professional interests. Some people prefer to keep these two identities separate, for example keeping Facebook to friends and family only but creating a professional identity on LinkedIn and Twitter. These tips can help increase discoverability and usage of your article, which may increase citations over time.

Use the guidelines across any social media platform.

Use your real name.

Include your institutional affiliation so that people know they found the right person.

Use personal language. Social media posts should not be written in the style of a press release, marketing email, etc.

Connect with colleagues and important people in your field by following them (Twitter), sending a friend request (Facebook), connecting (LinkedIn), or adding them to your circle (Google+)

Think of social media contacts much like you would in-person relationships. It is important to build relationships over time so that when you have something to share, it will be well received.

Linking to external content is a great way to engage your audience and increase discoverability. Consider writing a blog post or linking to a news feature about your article.

Below, we have listed several social media platforms that you may consider to promote your scholarly work as well as tips to optimize your efforts.

Twitter

Twitter is a quick, immediate conversation tool. It allows you to engage with real-time communication, respond to inquiries, and monitor conversations. It provides you with a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of your work and reach users outside of your normal audience. Here are some best practices for managing postings and replying to tweets from your account.

Frequency is important on this platform. Think about posting 2-3 times a day to build a good number of followers.

Along with posting links to your research, keep your account active by adding general content about your area of study. This can be as simple as posting links to news and other research that you think would interest others.

Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, including links, so brevity is important. As such, you can abbreviate, write fragments, and do not have to use proper grammar. You can shorten your links using services such as bit.ly.

Check your notifications for people who have followed you or mentioned you in a tweet.

Respond to people who message you or mention you in their tweets. Even if the comment is negative, consider ways to engage in a productive conversation.

Use common hashtags to increase the impact of your Tweet.

Mention a SAGE channel that links to your article, and we will retweet your message. This will raise the visibility of your account and your article.

To increase article usage and discoverability, repost important content a few times. Unlike other mediums that prioritize content based on user interest, tweets are shown in the order that they are posted. Even your most loyal followers will miss some of your posts.

Facebook

Facebook is a great way to utilize your personal network, especially if you are open to having colleagues and professional contacts as Facebook friends.

Consider adding supplemental material such as videos or photos. Facebook prioritizes these types of content in the news feed over text-based posts.

Write a straightforward explanation of your work or link to a blog post. Facebook posts can quickly go viral, so they should be easily read, enjoyed, and shared by the general public.

Encourage conversation and reply to comments.

Sprinkle in your professional content with other posts or commentary on other developments within your field.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional networking site that is almost exclusively content driven, so it is ideal for promoting your article. Much like Facebook and Twitter, there is a news feed that will display posts from your connections. However, the real power of this platform is discussions in groups.

Join groups and actively contribute to discussions.

If your article has broad application outside of the research community, consider writing a blog post explaining the practical applications of this research using every day language.

Add a list of your publications to your profile.

Google+

Google+ is a growing and increasingly important social media site. Google+ profiles often appear at the top of Google search results.

When you share posts and content on Google+, the content is automatically indexed by the Google search engine, which will increase discoverability.

Join communities and circles to discuss your areas of research. You can have separate circles for your professional and personal content.

Add links to your other professional profiles on social media and academic social bookmarking sites.

Include keywords in your post about your areas of expertise and your article.

These are just a few tips to get you started. Check out the Author Gateway for additional tips about how to increase the visibility of your article.